It may have taken me close to two months to do it, but I’m very excited to at long last be able to share our updated bedroom dresser!

Around this time in December Rust-Oleum got in contact about working on another project. Our bedroom dresser was in serious need of being updated so I chose to repaint our dresser with Rust-Oleum’s Chalky Finish Furniture Paint in ‘Strawberry Vanilla’ and topped it off with some of their mat Furniture Lacquer [you can read my full design decision making process here]. It took much longer than expected to update our dresser [a handle order that went wrong + having a newish baby = things now take 42 times longer than I’d like], but despite the delay, I’m more than delighted with how it turned out.

Because our dresser was so dark, it took 3 coats of ‘Strawberry Vanilla’ to cover the previous paint. I let the dresser dry for about 6 hours between each coat before adding the lacquer finish. I added two layers of lacquer as our dresser gets a lot of use and is also in a high traffic area in our room. I thoroughly mixed the lacquer, applied the first coat and waited 24 hours before applying the second coat as per the instructions on the tin. My one mistake was I didn’t thoroughly mix the lacquer before I applied the second coat and the second coat came out streaky. This was simply because the lacquer had settled in the tin between coats. I mixed it really well and applied a third layer of lacquer and it turned out perfectly. Because I added 3 layers of lacquer altogether, I let the dresser dry fully for about 2-3 days before putting the drawers back in and placing anything on top.

Something I found really handy was applying the paint and lacquer with a small sponge roller. Using a sponge roller meant each layer was applied to the dresser and drawers from start to finish within 20 minutes. Whereas if I had used a brush, I’d say I’d still be working on it.

The black Ikea borghamn handles really finish the dresser and work perfectly with the antique pink. I’m all about strong contrasts and juxtapositions, so the strong black handles balance the lightness of the dresser and tie it in with the rest of our room. They make it – dare I say – a bit sexy?

I don’t want to sound overly dramatic, but I’m really in love with our dresser now. The reason I love interior design so much is because of the mental health benefits that come from updating a space. How one change to a room can make such a huge difference to a space and how you feel about that space. Our room was feeling a little bit dreadful these past few months, but a few coats of paint have really made such a difference.

DISCLOSURE – while this blog post is not sponsored, I did receive this paint and lacquer free of charge from Rust-Oleum. As always, all words and opinions are my own. I only work with companies I like and of course, think that you will too. Thank you for supporting the companies that support The Interior DIYer.

Ever since I painted our bedroom black the night before Cora was born, there were a few things that needed to be updated. Our black curtains were one, and our dark grey dresser was another. Don’t get me wrong, I love black and wear nothing but black all the time, but there was too much of it in our room. Our dark dresser was now too close to the colour of our bedroom walls, and since we now had a baby, repainting a dresser was pretty low on my priority list.

At the beginning of December, Rust-Oleum got in contact about working on another project and asked if there was any furniture of ours that needed updating. I immediately thought of our bedroom dresser so took it as a perfect opportunity to update it in a completely new way.

Here’s what our dresser looked like before [and even before that – yeesh]. I spent a few days on Pinterest and decided on the lightest of pink paint. Rust-Oleum’s Chalky Finish Furniture Paint in ‘Strawberry Vanilla’ was perfect, topped with Rust-Oleum’s Furniture Lacquer to give a protective finish to the chalk paint. At first I was thinking of making our dresser very ornate with gold handles and add wood appliques to the drawers [kind of like this], but the longer I thought about it the more I realised it would be bad-fake [I’m not too keen on fake antiquing, unless it’s done really well and I didn’t think I could]. Our dresser is old and very possibly mid-century-something, so I decided to stick to a design that suited it a bit better. And something a bit funner.

Because our apartment is so small, there’s not much space between the end of our bed and the dresser. Our knees / pockets / hips were forever getting caught on the current handles, so I was on the lookout for a long handle that wouldn’t catch on our knees / pockets / hips. To make things just a bit more awkward, I wanted a handle that would fit the existing holes which were placed 416mm apart. I found a beautiful pair of handles on Etsy, but the order became not only very delayed, but complicated so it was cancelled. Which is the main reason this update took so long.

I checked the IKEA website and not only did they have solid non-knee / pocket / hip-catching handles that were spaced 416mm apart, but they were beautiful handles. They were black borghamn handles and they were solid iron. I’m so close to finishing our dresser update and in fact I’ll be heading out today to pick up the sweet, sweet handles in what I’m hoping will be the fastest IKEA trip ever [I’m sure I’ll be over-sharing on my InstaStories if you’re curious]. Wish me luck.

DISCLOSURE – while this blog post is not sponsored, I did receive this paint and lacquer free of charge from Rust-Oleum. As always, all words and opinions are my own. I only work with companies I like and of course, think that you will too. Thank you for supporting the companies that support The Interior DIYer.

It really feels like things are moving at a snails pace these days [myself included], but things are finally getting ticked off my to-do list. One of them being the nursery. Between appointments and classes and endless lists of what to do and get, there’s so much involved in getting ready for a baby. And once you get everything struck off your list, you start thinking of more things you should do. My lists are reproducing. Or sometimes you just want to lay the hell down and nothing gets done for a day or two. Do I sound complainy? I really don’t mean to, I’m just glad things are finally starting to fall in place!

Back when I first put some ideas together for transforming our spare bedroom into a nursery, I wanted to source as many secondhand items as possible. So when we were looking for a dresser / changing table, I took to Adverts.ie and found a perfect sized one for €45 …

It was a standard dresser in relatively okay condition. I knew I’d be painting it as there were already a lot of different wood finishes in the room – walnut crib, faux pine floor, some other faux wood on the built-in wardrobes and then the chicken-fat orange wood around the windows, the combination of them all together just wasn’t working.

Since our spare bedroom / nursery is a fairly dark room and the dresser would be going under the window [potentially blocking more light from the room], I didn’t want to go with anything too wild or dark on the dresser. When it came down to it, I wanted to keep it light and bright. I still had some leftover white Rustoleum paint from updating our bedside tables this time last year, so on went 5 even coats of plain white paint all over. I thought of doing a faux marble effect again, but quickly changed my mind as I didn’t want to overdo it.

As for the details on the dresser, I kept it relatively simple. I spent about 2 weeks looking for the perfect hardware for the drawers. I found these black rose knobs and backplates on Etsy [which I don’t think is a genuine Etsy seller and is probably a warehouse of sorts, but welp. I couldn’t find them elsewhere and I really wanted them so I got them]. I thought they were a perfect mix of whimsical, dainty and a little bit gothic. I decided to order just two knobs for the top drawers and went with very simple knobs for the rest of the dresser as I didn’t want to overkill it [I found perfect budget-friendly untreated pine knobs in Woodie’s that I painted matt black].

Since getting my hands on Emma’s Tangled Hawkmoth wallpaper, I immediately knew I’d be lining the drawers of any future nursery dresser with it. Unfortunately we can’t hang wallpaper in our apartment [boo, renting], so into the drawers it went. It works so perfectly and I love seeing peeks of it underneath all the tiny baby clothes. I want to line ALL OF THE THINGS WITH IT NOW.

As for the feet of the dresser, I’ve not done anything just yet with them. I’ve left them unpainted as they were, which in a way kind of makes it look like the dresser is floating [I know, a stretch] but I’m hoping to either swap them for different feet or just take them off entirely.

I should also say sorry for all the tightly cropped nursery pictures – it’s really to spare your eyeballs from seeing the madness that lurks to either side of the nursery. Soon, though. Soon it should be finished! Considering baby is now finished cooking and I’m 40 weeks [and 4 days], but I think [see: hope] later this week baby will make her debut. Fingers crossed – but not legs. Legs are anything but crossed 😉